WASHINGTON – The criminal business is one of the top 20 economies in the world, a senior United Nations official has said. Globally, crime generates approximately $2.1 trillionannually, which is about 3.6% of world’s gross domestic product, Yury Fedotov, the head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, said at a news conference.

The data is based on figures calculated data for 2009, The Telegraph reports.

During the opening day of the week-long meeting of the International Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, Fedotov described the criminal business as a threat to global security and economic development.

He said that up to $40 bnis lost due to corruption in developing countries annually. He added that illegal income from human trafficking amounted to 32 billion dollars every year.

He also cited a range of other crimes such as illegal trafficking, violence, corruption and organized crime yielding big money, adding that they were also major impediments to the Millennium Development Goals.